Sandman (Marvel Comics): Difference between revisions
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On [[November 5]], [[2005]] [[Thomas Haden Church]] was officially cast as the disturbed character Sandman in ''[[Spider-Man 3]]'', revealed by [[Kirsten Dunst]] and confirmed by [[Sony]]. The character has long been a favorite of director [[Sam Raimi]] and star [[Tobey Maguire]]. During press interviews for the first two films, both Raimi and Maguire mentioned Sandman as a character they would like to appear in the series. |
On [[November 5]], [[2005]] [[Thomas Haden Church]] was officially cast as the disturbed character Sandman in ''[[Spider-Man 3]]'', revealed by [[Kirsten Dunst]] and confirmed by [[Sony]]. The character has long been a favorite of director [[Sam Raimi]] and star [[Tobey Maguire]]. During press interviews for the first two films, both Raimi and Maguire mentioned Sandman as a character they would like to appear in the series. |
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In a photo from Comic-Con 2006, Sandman is seen in the process of using his powers whilst reaching behind him to a child, possibly his daughter, holding a teddy bear. In some promotional photos, it was revealed that he also has unspecified ties to the robber who killed [[Benjamin Parker|Uncle Ben]] in the first movie. In the film, Sandman is accused of killing Ben Parker. While [[On the lam|on the run]] from police, Sandman stumbles into a [[particle physics]] [[laboratory]] and turns into living sand. Sandman has a daughter named Penny, who he tries to keep happy, for she is |
In a photo from Comic-Con 2006, Sandman is seen in the process of using his powers whilst reaching behind him to a child, possibly his daughter, holding a teddy bear. In some promotional photos, it was revealed that he also has unspecified ties to the robber who killed [[Benjamin Parker|Uncle Ben]] in the first movie. In the film, Sandman is accused of killing Ben Parker. While [[On the lam|on the run]] from police, Sandman stumbles into a [[particle physics]] [[laboratory]] and turns into living sand. Sandman has a daughter named Penny, who he tries to keep happy, for she is suffering from a seemingly incurable disease. His wife, Emma is also shown in the film. |
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===Video game appearances=== |
===Video game appearances=== |
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Revision as of 23:46, 28 April 2007
| Sandman | |
|---|---|
| File:Imm-sandman.jpg Art by Mark Bagley | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September, 1963) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | William Baker |
| Team affiliations | Sinister Six Frightful Four Avengers |
| Notable aliases | Flint Marko, Sylvester Mann, Quarryman |
| Abilities | -Body is made completely of organic sand -Can form weapons from body -Can change shape and density -Superhuman strength and endurance in his sand form -Can absorb nearby sand particles to add to mass or replace lost mass |
Sandman is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, traditionally an adversary of Spider-Man. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Sept. 1963). His body has been changed into sand, which he can control completely. He may absorb nearby sand and reconstitute it into his body, as well.
Sandman had frequently been cited as one of creator Stan Lee's favorite supervillains.[citation needed] He will appear in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3, played by Thomas Haden Church.
Fictional character biography
William Baker was born in Queens, New York. At the age of three, William was abandoned by his father and forced to live in poverty with his mother. Throughout high school, William turned to theft and cheating to get through class and to make ends meet at home. After accepting a bribe, Baker was expelled from school and soon found work as a mob enforcer. Under the alias Flint Marko, Baker became involved in more and more illegal activity, and slowly developed a violent and bitter personality. Eventually he ended up doing hard time on Rikers Island for his dealings but managed to escape. Immediately after he fled to a beach near Savannah, Georgia where he came into contact with sand that had been irradiated by an experimental reactor. His body and the radioactive sand bonded, and Marko’s molecular structure was altered into a sand/dirt-like substance. Marko soon found that he could transform any or all of his body into sand, and adopted the name Sandman to match his new powers.
Marko clashed with Spider-Man for the first time at the school which the hero attended as Peter Parker. Marko was defeated by Spider-Man (who used a vacuum cleaner), but eventually resurfaced as a member of the Sinister Six led by Doctor Octopus. After being soundly defeated by Spider-Man several more times, Marko gave up and took a shot at battling other superheroes. Most notably, he joined the original Frightful Four to combat the Fantastic Four, but this fledgling group of villains were beaten by the experienced heroes. He also fought the Hulk. An emergency blood transfusion between Sandman and Betty Ross following one of these fights turned Ross into a glass statue, but Doc Samson was able to reverse the effect. During his encounters with the Hulk, Sandman wore a diamond-patterned green costume with a purple headpiece. This has not been seen again.
Art by Steve Ditko.
Sandman eventually discovers that — starting with his hand — his body is slowly transforming into glass, although he is able to reverse the effect. Afterwards, he decides to resume his struggle with his original adversary, Spider-Man, and allies himself with Hydro-Man to do battle with their mutual enemy. The two briefly merge into an unintelligent and largely ineffective mud monster, but split apart. Afterwards, Marko becomes deeply depressed, and the Thing of the Fantastic Four supports him, and encourages him to use his power in the name of good. Sandman then makes sporadic appearances in various Spider-Man comics, assisting his former enemy. The first such appearance has him coming to the rescue of Spider-Man and Silver Sable, who are outnumbered and surrounded by the Sinister Syndicate. Silver Sable is impressed by Sandman's performance and recruits him as a freelance operative. Sandman also appears as part of the Outlaws, a group of reformed Spider-Man enemies such as Prowler, Rocket Racer, Puma, and Will o' the Wisp, who would turn up from time to time to help Spider-Man.
Flint briefly joins the Avengers as a reserve member. Later, he becomes a full-time mercenary in the employ of Silver Sable, as a member of her Wild Pack, serving alongside heroes such as Paladin and Battlestar.
He eventually reverts to his villainous ways, claiming to have faked his heroic career, although it is revealed that the Wizard used his mind-controlling "Id Machine" to force him to act as a villain.
Sandman then rejoins a new incarnation of the Sinister Six, which is working with one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies, Venom. Venom reveals that he had joined the team to make sure no one else kills Spider-Man, and turns on the remaining five. Dealing with Marko, Venom rips off and swallows a chunk of sand, which apparently destabilizes Sandman's body structure. His body slowly begins to crumble away. He blames Spider-Man, but ultimately asks him to deliver a message to his mother. He also expresses remorse that he could not pull off the task of becoming an official superhero. The Sandman then crumbles to pieces and seems to die, washing away down a sewer and ending up as part of Jones Beach, New York.
Sandman's body and mind scatter with the grains of sand. The major part of his mind merges with the beach and begins swallowing people in an attempt to piece himself back together. Spider-Man tries to free the captured people from Sandman's beach consciousness, which is his evil mindset, and succeeds when Marko explodes from too many clashing mindsets. Soon the sand of the beach begins to spread to different areas around New York, and all of the different aspects of Sandman's shattered mind form individual beings: Marko's good side, evil side, feminine side and childlike side. Spider-Man locates all of the different versions of Sandman and attempts to convince them to return to one being. Sandman's evil side merges with his child and feminine sides, but Sandman's good side doesn't want to allow evil to become a part of him again. The new Sandman responds by abandoning his good side completely, which eventually crumbles into lifeless sand and blows away. While the new Sandman is not the sadistic monstrosity that his purely evil side was, he is a criminal and seems to lack any desire to become a hero or do good.
Sandman is one of the villains recruited to recover the Identity Disc, but is seemingly killed due to mutinous behaviour. At the series' end, Sandman is revealed to be alive and working along with the Vulture to manipulate the other villains.
According to Spider-Man: Chapter One by John Byrne, Marko is related to the Osborn family. This has not been referred to by other writers, mostly because the series' complete failure rendered it non-canon.
Recently in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man storyline "Sandblasted", Sandman has approached Spider-Man asking for help in clearing the name of his father, who has been imprisoned for murdering a bum. Baker admits that his father is a petty criminal, but insists he would never go so far as to kill anybody. Baker also mentions that the victim bears an uncanny resemblance to a picture of Peter Parker's Uncle Ben. Sandman accompanies Spider-Man until they find the true killer, who turns out to be Chameleon 2211. Chameleon 2211 killed the Uncle Ben that Hobgoblin 2211 brought from an alternate universe (in issue #8 of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) and was posing as him after that. Thanks to Spider-Man, Floyd Baker is switched with Chameleon 2211 and saved, and for the time being, Sandman expresses his thanks to our hero.
Morals
Morally, Sandman is a complex character. Throughout his criminal career, he possessed an affinity for his ailing mother. He reformed and joined the superhero group the Avengers and the Wild Pack of Silver Sable. He has since returned to a life of crime but resists the extreme methods and actions of typical supervillains, rarely killing anyone.
The Sandman almost always uses the alias Flint Marko, but his actual name is William Baker. This name change was so that his mother would never discover his true identity. [1]
Powers and abilities
The Sandman has the ability to transform into a malleable sand-like substance which can be hardened, dispersed, or shaped according to his will. Even if his body is blown apart he is capable of reforming it. His shirt and pants are both a part of his mass sand-like body. They are colored to appear as if he were wearing actual clothes. He rarely wears shoes, most of the time he makes it appear as if he has long pants, so no shoes can be visible. Though at times he makes it appear as if he were wearing large boots.
He is mainly seen transforming his arms and hands into a sand mace or a sledgehammer to battle Spider-Man and his other enemies.
He can merge with natural sand if it is in his direct vicinity like a beach or desert, thus he can manipulate normal sand like his normal body, add it to his physical size and strength, or use it to reform himself.
Sandman has mental and physical control over every particle of sand in his body.
His body seems to take the physical and chemical qualities of sand, as once he was mixed with cement ingredients and was turned into solid cement. He remained alive like this but in a coma-like state, and returned to normal later.
He possesses superhuman strength several times in excess of Spider-Man's, making him roughly equal to the Thing[citation needed].
He once wore a uniform devised by the Wizard, which enabled him to mix chemicals into his body for various effects, but he has long since discontinued its use. This uniform, like his usual clothing, turned to sand and back when he did.
If exposed to extreme heat, Sandman will turn to glass, but if shattered, he can control his glass shard form. [2] Also he is invulnerable to most physical attack and most firearms fly right through him. Also he is vulnerable to large amounts of water and ice. He has once 'disintegrated' when the Supervillain Venom bit off a piece of him, separating it from the main part of his mass and thus causing him to lose control over the rest of his body; after a prolonged period of disintegration, he appeared to die, but washed up on a beach, wherein he re-formed himself using the sand he had found there.
Relatives
A large part of the Sandman's Secret identity hinges on his mother, who so far has not appeared beyond the Sandman mentioning her. It was for her that he changed his name to Flint Marko, so that she would not know her son was a criminal; during his first death, he wrote his Last Will and Testament as a letter to her, and asked Spider-Man to tell her he tried. Most recently, in the pages of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the Sandman's Father, Floyd Baker, has been revealed to be standing in court, having been framed for the Murder of Spider-Man's Uncle Ben.
Sandman also briefly mentioned (in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6) that his cousin is married to the Boomerang; this gave him the inside knowledge that the coat that Hydro-Man had bought from Alyosha Kravinoff for his girlfriend Sadie was not actually made from the skin of Tigra, as she had beaten Boomerang only the month before.
In Spider-Man 3, (although obviously not comic canon) Flint Marko has a wife and daughter.
Other versions
Ultimate Sandman
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Flint Marko is a genetic mutation of the industrialist Justin Hammer, one of the results of an attempt to recreate the super soldier formula. Shortly after Hammer was killed by Dr. Octopus, S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrated Hammer's factory to take care of any experiments Hammer was working on. Marko used this opportunity to escape and wreak havoc upon New York. S.H.I.E.L.D., with the help of Spider-Man, managed to contain him and imprisoned him in a S.H.I.E.L.D holding facilty. There, he met fellow genetic fugitives Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), Dr. Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), Max Dillon (Electro), and Kraven the Hunter. Under the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus's leadership the five broke free and captured Spider-Man to form the Ultimate Six. Marko participated with the group in an attack on the White House. However, he was defeated by Iron Man. After the battle, S.H.I.E.L.D. sealed Marko in various jars and kept them frozen.
In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, we see that Ultimate Beetle stole one of the vials containing Flint Marko. The ramifications are have yet to be seen.
Mark Bagley, who draws Ultimate Spider-Man, noted in his rough designs for the Ultimate Sandman that he would appear "Nekkid" most of the time. As he wanted to go with the more 'realistic' feel of the Ultimate imprint, he doubted whether Flint Marko's clothing had unstable molecules like his body.
1602 Sandman
1602: Fantastic Four, a sequel to Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602 written by Peter David, features the 1602 version of the Marvel Sandman. While he physically resembles Flint Marko, he has the pale skin and glowing eyes of Gaiman's Morpheus. He also alludes to an ability to summon nightmares. In the fourth issue he is able to send Ben Grimm to sleep by blowing a vapor or dust at him. He has not yet shown any signs of his traditional powers.
Other media
Television
- Sandman appeared in the 1960s Spider-Man episode The Sands of Crime.
- Sandman appeared in the 1970s Fantastic Four episode The Frightful Four.
- Sandman also appeared in the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon in The Sandman is Coming.
- He later appeared in a similar episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, where he was voiced by Chris Latta.
- Sandman did not appear in the Spider-Man animated series of the 1990s because the series did not want to interfere with the continuity of James Cameron's proposed Spider-Man movie, in which the Sandman and Electro were supposed to be the villains. Although Electro was belatedly introduced into the series when Cameron's film fell through, Sandman remained unseen in the series, the only major Spidey villain not to appear in the show.
- Also because of Cameron's film, Sandman did not appear in the Fantastic Four cartoon in the 1990s, most notably the episodes featuring the Frightful Four. Instead, he was replaced with Hydro-Man, a character who has similar powers to Sandman, only with water instead of sand, and had already been featured in the Spider-Man cartoon.
Film
On November 5, 2005 Thomas Haden Church was officially cast as the disturbed character Sandman in Spider-Man 3, revealed by Kirsten Dunst and confirmed by Sony. The character has long been a favorite of director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire. During press interviews for the first two films, both Raimi and Maguire mentioned Sandman as a character they would like to appear in the series.
In a photo from Comic-Con 2006, Sandman is seen in the process of using his powers whilst reaching behind him to a child, possibly his daughter, holding a teddy bear. In some promotional photos, it was revealed that he also has unspecified ties to the robber who killed Uncle Ben in the first movie. In the film, Sandman is accused of killing Ben Parker. While on the run from police, Sandman stumbles into a particle physics laboratory and turns into living sand. Sandman has a daughter named Penny, who he tries to keep happy, for she is suffering from a seemingly incurable disease. His wife, Emma is also shown in the film.
Video game appearances
- Sandman is a boss character in the Sega Genesis game Spider-Man. He also appears in the 1993 Sega CD version of the game. In both games, he rises from a sandbox and must be dissipated by striking him with water.
- Sandman appeared as a villain twice in Spider-Man: The Video Game.
- Sandman appeared in Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro for the PlayStation. He chases Spider-Man all over a construction site, and the hero must turn industrial hoses on him to disrupt his integrity.
- Sandman is will also appear in the Spider-Man 3 video game based on the film.
- Sandman is also the second boss, with Doctor Octopus being the final one, you take on in the "Spider-Man: Revenge Of The Sinister Six" game for Nintendo.
Action figures
Sandman was one of the action figures included in Toy Biz's Spider-Man Classics series 12 and re-released in 2005's series 17.
Sandman is also one of the numerous characters produced in the Marvel line of the block-figures called Minimates.